


With a little help

by SunsetSwish



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Domestic Bliss, Established Relationship, M/M, Magic-Users, Supportive Alec Lightwood, malecsanta19
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:40:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21800047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunsetSwish/pseuds/SunsetSwish
Summary: They've been together for quite some time when something changes with Magnus.Secret Santa 2019: I hope you enjoy some Malec husbands in a human AU with a twist.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 4
Kudos: 65
Collections: The Malec Secret Santa - Edition 2019





	With a little help

**Author's Note:**

  * For [redscrollsofmalec](https://archiveofourown.org/users/redscrollsofmalec/gifts).



Magnus has been getting home late lately but Alec understands. It's the current case that Magnus has been working on that's demanding his time and Alec has never been jealous of his husband's job.

While it would be great to be able to go to him and wrap his arms around him, Alec is perfectly able to occupy himself while alone. After all, his own work takes up almost as much time as his husband's. On top of that, The Lightwood Foundation has been on a roll lately, becoming even more popular among the New York's high circles. It's always been doing well enough ever since his parents started it but with him becoming more involved, it seemed to be on a new path. His mother was especially pleased, knowing she could trust him to keep it going after she decides it's time to step down.

Alec moves around the apartment, making himself a warm drink to sip while he's watching the news. Between his work at the consultancy firm and the Lightwood Foundation, he sometimes misses a day or two's worth of information.

Relaxing in the armchair, he nurses his tea and waits for his husband to come home.

Alec's done with the news segment and has already flipped the channel to animal documentaries when a key turns in the door. He's up immediately, not bothering to put his feet back into his slippers, and he goes to meet the man who's coming in.

Magnus's somewhat tired face lights up when he sees Alec right there and he tilts his head up to receive the kiss Alec is already leaning in for.

"That's what I've been thinking of all the way here," Magnus says softly. "A perfect welcome."

"I'd have hated to disappoint you."

Magnus holds a fistful of Alec's shirt.

"Well, Alexander, I don't think you're quite capable of disappointing me."

"I don't know about that… for example, I don't have any food waiting for you since I didn't know when you'd be back."

Magnus waves his free hand dismissively. "And that's for the better. I'm not hungry. Now let me get out of these clothes and into something more like yours."

He tugs at Alec's shirt. He may not appreciate the grayscale of his husband's wardrobe but he can secretly love the fabric's softness.

In the bathroom, Magnus decides he doesn't need a shower and he'll have it in the morning instead but the eyeshadow has to go now.

He's tired. Once he stepped inside their home and could relax in Alexander's presence, Magnus truly felt the weight of the day in his bones and muscles. He really should be in the bed soon if he wants to avoid getting a worse headache than he already has.

Alexander is waiting for him in the bedroom, standing by the window and looking out at the night lights of the city. He turns when he hears Magnus and puts away his phone, which he was holding but not really using it.

"Bed?" Alec asks because he really doesn't think his husband will want to do anything else tonight.

"Yes, please," Magnus sighs.

They fall into the bed, between the dark-blue patterned sheets and comforter. Magnus stretches his legs out and then curls up on his side, facing Alec.

"When do you think you're going to win?" Alec asks him.

"Your confidence in me is sweet, darling. I don't know if I'm going to win at all."

"As your darling, I'm the one qualified to say you're the best out there."

Magnus snorts but doesn't argue the point.

Alec buries his fingers in the hair on top of his head where it's the longest and presses with his fingertips gently. He massages little circles there, just like he knows Magnus likes the most. This has always worked wonders for his headaches.

"Camille is going to show up, soon," Magnus says quietly.

Alec's fingers still momentarily but then they resume their work.

"Do you want me to do something? Sent Raj over to pretend he's a courier or something, spill something red and hard to wash out on her?"

"You're going to _use_ your friend?"

"Well, I'd use him as a _colleague_ for this. If you want, Jace could find me someone else. Or Andrew."

"Hmm. I bet Jace would just come himself."

"True. So would Izzy. For what Camille's done to you..."

"Well, I'm afraid all we can do for now is deal with her. Without making _any_ of our friends and family do the dirty work."

Alec pretends to be disappointed at Magnus's disapproval of his plan for a minute and then changes the topic.

"We should go away for a while after this. The last time we went anywhere was our honeymoon and our Christmas break will be short this year, too."

"Hmm, you are right. We could use some time away from the city."

"All right then. You win your case, I'll make arrangements at work and we can go."

Magnus makes a sound of agreement and within a few minutes sleep takes over his body.

*

Maia comes over for some quick plant maintenance the next day. Magnus smiles, happy to see someone he _likes_ before he has to deal with Camille, whenever she chooses to show up.

Maia is currently studying to be an animal biologist but she's paying her bills by working at a plant nursery. _Fancyplants_ nursery, she calls it. It caters to rich people and their fancy apartments and that does include Magnus's workspace. He'd paid for their services, which meant choosing the best low-maintenance plants to put in his office rooms.

Magnus likes plants. He likes living beings in general but he just doesn't have the time left in the day to worry about his workspace more than he has to. Whatever free time he has, he wants to give to his husband and his friends.

So now Maia's in his office and they're talking about inconsequential things while she does her job, making sure his plants are all right, watered or dry depending on their needs, clean and pruned. She's supposed to make sure that they look properly fancy for her company's standards.

Meanwhile, Magnus does some clean up on his desk. It's a large desk because he correctly predicted he was going to need the space but it's also a statement piece.

"You know, you might just have the best conditions here," Maia says. "Did you change something? AC or… I don't know what, to be honest."

Magnus stops sorting his papers to look at her.

"No? Why?"

"Well, these guys look great. Better than great. They've already been here for four months, right? And just now they're thriving."

She's looking at one pot in particular, making a gesture at it and Magnus isn't quite sure what he's supposed to be looking at.

"You know these don't really flower outside of their _natural_ habitat. They _especially_ don't bloom in New York air."

Magnus can see that there is, in fact, a flower, not yet fully blooming, on the plant she's waving at.

Maia eyes him.

"Or maybe there's some truth to the belief that flowers sense words and emotions in the room. If married life treated everyone as well as it treats you, I'd be looking for a husband for myself, too."

He raises his eyebrows at her. She holds his gaze.

"Alec put a ring on it and you've been happy ever since," she continues as if he didn't get her meaning the first time.

He shakes his head, smiling.

"Yes. I am quite happy. I've _been_ happy with him even before the ring."

"Sure you have. I'm just saying, you like being married," her voice is all sing-song and Magnus doesn't even mind her teasing when it's just the truth.

He forgets about the plants because he's thinking about Alexander now and then when Maia leaves the building, he's back to being occupied by work.

He has his lunch in peace but after that, two hours later, Camille comes in through the door. Everything in Magnus tenses when his apologetic looking assistant shows her in.

His poor assistant isn't new to this and it makes Magnus feel a little bad that she's feeling some kind of guilt for even letting Camille in.

For as long as they're both based in New York and not changing their line of work, Magnus will always risk meeting this woman. His ex.

Alexander would have liked him to file a restraining order against her or do _anything_ that would have a similar effect but Magnus is afraid. He's plainly afraid. He can't know if she'd just let _that_ go because she hasn't let _him_ go when they broke up.

She is a lawyer. That's how they'd met. They had been unstoppable together and even if they didn't stand in court together, they worked on cases together.

They're both smart, stubborn, she's more ruthless than he ever was… He'd liked her fire and she'd liked his ambition… but he'd fallen in love and she had not.

He'd let go of her but she hasn't done the same for him.

And now it's like this: whenever he stands in court against someone she doesn't like, Magnus will receive documents, files, photos sent to his office or his e-mail that will mean a break in his case or at the very least will be useful clues.

Hell, one time a witness he'd known nothing about walked right into his office, ready to speak in court. Camille had sent them to Magnus's address.

But.

The other times, most times, she's the enemy. She's the opponent even though he's working against other lawyers, not her. What she's doing to him… it's twisted.

Just like this time.

He's afraid of taking the definite steps to shut her out because the fallout might be worse than what she's done so far. She _could_ hurt his name and his career. He also used to be afraid she could hurt his relationship with Alexander but that's one of the fears his husband has taught him to let go of.

Today, she's here because he got involved in what she always mockingly called _humanitarian_ cases and she happens to be making her money with the company he's leading the lawsuit against. Magnus had no way of knowing that before he took this job but it doesn't matter. He wouldn't have backed out anyway. The ambition that Camille used to praise him for is also driving him to win this because aside from doing the _right thing_ , it'll make him and his whole office look good.

"Magnus," Camille says in the same tone she always uses for him since they parted ways. It makes his skin crawl.

"You're looking good," she says, her tone light. "I guess you were made for marriage after all."

He'd liked it when Maia had said it. He doesn't need to hear it from Camille. Magnus used to be afraid of her vicious tongue where Alexander was concerned. She could have driven him away from Magnus with lies _and truths_ but with time, Magnus learned to trust in Alexander instead.

It still hurts somewhat that she cares nothing for what it means to Magnus to be loyal. To be loved. He knows the reason: promises mean nothing to her. She cares only for herself and her career and she'll never tie herself down to anyone. And that alone would have been fine because certainly not everyone needs to be in a relationship… but it's not fine that she plays with others. Magnus wasn't the first and he won't be the last, and he can't do anything about that.

Camille realizes that Magnus won't entertain her by saying anything about his private life, so she gets to the point. After all, no matter how much she'd like to get under his skin (as if she wasn't already there), she values her time more.

She starts out by pointing out his clients' status. She's so derisive. It's true, they couldn't possibly _hope_ to pay his rates. But Magnus won't be getting his money from them. He'll be getting his money from the city and from the two companies he's suing. Mostly, he's expecting to get _satisfaction_ and some nice good karma for himself and his office's name. People like this sort of thing. Some people prefer cold precision like Camille's and will pay a lot for it but Magnus doesn't want those clients.

He has always been bothered by her putting down people around her and she's always been like that but he'd been blinded by her acts of _kindness_ , especially since they'd met because she'd helped him.

Now, Camille gets her money for representing one of the companies and she's here to tell him he's a fool for taking the case, for giving a damn about "some poor randoms".

There is an offer of a settlement, of course, but it's very much not official yet. The offer is laughably small, obviously, and it's rather insulting. Yes, that amount of money seems very nice to someone like the families Magnus is speaking for but he knows very well it won't last them more than a month and a half unless they go live under a bridge or move out to a middle of nowhere.

Magnus doesn't want money for them, he wants them to keep what they already have and should legally keep, namely their homes.

And that's what he tells Camille.

"Are you doing this to impress your hubby?" she mocks him but that's a weak line of attack.

"I assure you, he's plenty impressed already. I can also assure you _he_ does not affect my work in any way."

"Hmm."

Her very red lips part again but before her next word is out, her phone rings. Just as Magnus expects of her, she picks up instead of ignoring it or silencing the call.

She takes the call as if she's in her own office, on her own time. She's talking to some man, likely a co-worker or an employee of hers.

At some point, she complains to the man on the other end of the line that he's breaking up and in the next sentence she puts all blame on Magnus's building.

Magnus rolls his eyes. His whole office has _perfect_ reception, he knows it for a fact.

Despite complaining, she doesn't end the conversation and Magnus has a feeling it's very much on purpose. It's a _small_ thing. She's just showing how much she doesn't care about him but he's annoyed. Sometimes he wishes… he wishes he could just make her disappear at a snap of his fingers. Right now, just getting rid of her phone would be enough. Magnus glares at the device, even though it's not even at fault here.

"What the hell," Camille stops talking somewhat suddenly and holds the phone in front of her, looking at the screen.

Whatever it is, which Magnus can't see from where he's sitting, gets her really irritated. Magnus wonders if her connection was cut. Whatever the reason, the call is clearly over and Camille stands with furrowed brows, tapping on the screen but clearly getting nowhere.

"Useless…" she holds back some more adjectives and then shoves the phone back into her red purse.

"Charge it before leaving home next time?" Magnus suggests.

"It was," she snaps.

By this point, some of the tension is leaving Magnus slowly because hopefully the phone issue will get her out of here sooner.

Camille huffs and the way she fixes her purse strap tells Magnus she's in fact about to leave. He dares to hope.

"As much as I'd love to stay with you," she speaks in that poison-sweet tone, " _that_ was much more important than _you_ trying to ruin _your_ career so I will be going. We'll see each other soon anyway, if you won't take the money."

Magnus taps his fingers on his desk. "Goodbye, Camille."

Ten minutes later, his assistant pokes her head in, her face as apologetic as it has been when she lead Camille in. She brings a paper bag to the desk and Magnus can see the logo of the bakery down the street. He's already able to guess what's inside and he smiles.

"That's unnecessary but appreciated all the same."

"Would you like coffee with that?" she asks. "I'm making some for myself, so…"

Magnus thinks about it, then replies: "Yes, I think it's time for the second cup of the day. You _are_ an angel."

She flushes and nods.

"All right," Magnus says to himself when she's gone to get the coffee. "Time to get some work done."

When Magnus goes home in the evening, he pays attention to the plants they've got in their living room. Half of them are in bloom and all of them are growing new baby leaves.

⁂

The next week, Magnus meets someone even worse than Camille. It's a man he hasn't met before that day and he's not, unlike Camille, Magnus's professional competition.

The man is in his office to make trouble for one of Magnus's last-year student interns and it's about the last thing Magnus needs this week. He's very busy with the case, he's worrying about Camille, he's feeling bad for having so little time in the evenings for Alexander.

When he's told about the issue in one of the rooms, he's irritated.

Turns out the man decided to come to harass the intern at work because he would avoid the man outside of work. Family issues, it looks like. In-law issues, because the intern is Asian and the other man is not.

What Magnus knows at first is this: his intern tried to get rid of the man quickly without involving the building's security but he couldn't do that before Magnus heard about it.

From there it gets ugly. Not physically but the stranger is unnecessarily aggressive with his words and that's making the other people nervous. Magnus hates it, too.

The thing is, they can't return the favor. Even when Magnus personally hears the kind of things the man calls the intern, they have to keep their cool. The family drama isn't clear to Magnus but what is crystal clear is that the man doesn't appreciate the "foreign" young man near his family. There must be more to it than just that but it doesn't matter at this point.

It gets worse when he sees Magnus there, another Asian man. Magnus himself has gone through this already. He doesn't love it, but he's already old enough to be above it. The poor intern is mortified now, however, and at this point, he looks like he might just cry.

Magnus gets the impression the angry man is spiteful and no one in the office needs him to harass all of them afterwards. No one has the time for this. And especially now, Magnus can't do anything stupid that'd make him look any less than _pristine_.

Someone has called for the security and two men show up and manage to 'persuade' the man to leave. Magnus follows them to the main entrance of the building to make sure the man leaves.

It makes him a target for some more exceptionally racist words and then some threats for the intern.

Magnus hates people like this. He may be used to it but at this point, he's so angry that this is still happening…

He can't do anything about this because it's not like he can just, well, resort to violence. Oh, throwing something _would_ have helped him but he's not about to get himself arrested for the night for an assault. He also doesn't want the intern to have legal problems from this.

Magnus can't _stand_ assholes and this one's now smugly getting into the car and going on his way, as if he's won something today, with Magnus unable to do anything but glare holes in the car's windows…

The sound of a bursting tire is so sharp and loud that all the passers-by startle, several more frightened ones instinctively duck for cover.

Magnus startles, too, but since he was looking in that direction, he knows what the source of the noise is and knows he doesn't need to take cover. The driver swerves unnecessarily, confused by what's just happened and the hood hits the low parking post by the curb. With the broken, empty tire, the car stops before ever leaving the parking space.

Magnus stares.

There's nothing for him (or anyone else) to do here. No one's been hurt.

So he turns around and heads back inside with a strange feeling in his chest. He doesn't call it satisfaction.

But it is.

⁂

Two nights later, Magnus is home alone for the evening. He's moving the case forward but it's getting more stressing, too. From two sides, he's feeling the breath of the two companies but it's exactly what he knew what was going to happen. He's not new to this.

Still, that evening his body is in such a nervous state there's a tremble in his hands as if he'd spent a whole day without food or drink. Well, to be fair, he hasn't eaten quite enough but he's reaching for water now because maybe that'll help.

When he takes a glass from the shelf, he knocks two items over- another glass from the same set and a mug. He freezes where he stands not because of fear of the shards but because of the mug he just broke.

That's Max's mug. That is, he'd made it on some sort of after-school crafts fair and had given it to Alec as a housewarming gift when he'd moved in with Magnus. Alec treasures everything that his siblings ever made for him and especially things from Max.

And now the mug's in pieces on their kitchen floor.

Magnus remembers to breathe. He isn't barefoot so he doesn't worry about crouching down amidst the mess on the floor. He picks up the largest pieces, first the surviving mug handle. Like Cinderella, he sorts through glass and ceramic, gathering the dark blue pieces in one pile. Why did it have to break so completely? He could have glued it together but not with so many parts. Besides, Max meant for this to be used and it probably couldn't be with superglue holding it together.

Magnus bites his lip. No, he doesn't believe Alec will be _angry_ over this but he'll be sad and Magnus is the one currently angry at himself. Max probably won't be angry, either. He'll probably make a new thing for Alec.

Why couldn't Magnus have been a little more graceful and just grabbed his glass without ruining other things…

He gathers the broken ceramic in his hands. If he could just have this evening to _rest_ without _this_ happening, if he could have been on the sofa right now, waiting for Alexander to welcome him home instead of waiting to tell him he broke his little brother's gift…

The pieces spring to life in his hands. They levitate before his eyes, dancing around each other until each and every one finds its rightful place in the shape of a whole, seamless mug.

Magnus nearly drops it again in shock. He fumbles to hold onto it, his heart racing in his chest.

"What-?" he gasps weakly.

It's right there, he's feeling it in his hands, solid and smooth and the paint is just as Max had designed it.

Slowly, Magnus moves to stand up. Slowly, he puts the mug on the kitchen counter and pushes it to the wall so there's no chance he'll knock it over again.

He takes a step back.

Then another and another until he's backed away so far he hits the sofa's back. Then he turns around and sits down on it.

He's going crazy. He just _hallucinated_ breaking something… or he hallucinated putting it back together with nothing but a wish and in reality, it's still on the floor.

Either way, he's not going to check again. He'll wait for Alexander and then he'll see what his reaction will be.

*

Alec finds his husband passed out on the sofa, curled up on his side and luckily not near the edge so he won't fall off of it. The lights are on as if he'd been waiting and Alec feels bad for being so late tonight. He didn't mean to be but he ran into an old classmate and they spent some time catching up. Alec did send a text to Magnus but he probably didn't pay attention to his phone, since Alec can't see it anywhere around Magnus.

He'll apologize when he wakes him to get him to bed but first he goes to turn off the overhead lights in the kitchen. He notices the glass on the floor right away and concern squeezes his gut. Magnus didn't have his fingers wrapped, did he? No, Alec didn't see anything like that.

Taking the dustpan out from under the sink, Alec wonders what made Magnus leave this here. He doesn't like mess, especially hazardous mess.

Alec sweeps it quickly, makes sure there's nothing left, turns off the light and then goes back to the sofa to wake up his husband.

*

Magnus wakes to the smell of Alexander's cologne. It's the one he's gifted him last Christmas. His thoughts drift, his mind not fully awake yet. He thinks that his husband is a sweet man, letting Magnus (and Isabelle) decide on some of his fashion choices when they gift him with perfume or those cashmere sweaters…

Magnus snaps awake in one moment when he thinks of other gifts Alexander loves and he remembers the mug.

"Hey," Alec says, "it's just me, I'm home. Sorry for being so late."

He's crouching by the sofa, his eyes on Magnus's face.

"Oh, that's all right."

Magnus sits up slowly and looks at his watch to see how long he's been asleep. Two hours.

"I saw the broken glass," Alec says. "Are you okay? You didn't cut yourself?"

Magnus rubs his hands on his face but it doesn't really help him feel any more alert.

"No, no. I just- I didn't mean to leave that there but-"

"It's fine, you must have been tired. Let's get you to bed."

Alexander is speaking to him in that soft voice of his and Magnus is helpless to do anything but listen.

When he stands up, Magnus glances towards the kitchen. With the light from the living room reaching it, he can see the outline of the blue mug standing where he'd put it on the counter.

Alec herds him to the bedroom where they change into their sleep clothes and they slip under the covers. Alec sighs, content to be lying down with his husband nearby. Magnus, who still feels like this isn't quite real, like he's not awake at all, tries to relax. He breathes in Alexander's scent, he soaks in his warmth and does his best _not to think_ before can fall asleep again.

*

In the morning, they don't need to rush. They've both worked late last evening so they can take a breath in the morning. Alec is up first so he's in charge of making breakfast and coffee for both of them.

When Magnus shuffles into the kitchen, Alec meets him halfway for a good morning kiss.

"I think I'm having bad few weeks," Magnus says a little while later when they're sitting down.

"Why? Camille?"

"No. That is, _yes_ , her too, but not primarily," he's already almost forgotten all about her by now. He fidgets. "It's stupid."

In a second, Alec's hand is on his, reaching over the table. Magnus looks down. Alexander's hands are always warm, even in winter.

"Hey, it's bothering you so it's _not_ stupid. Is it something that has to go away on its own or can you deal with it?"

"I don't know," Magnus says and it's the honest truth.

Alec's gaze stays on him, steady almost like a touch Magnus could feel.

"Let's just get through this and go on that vacation we talked about," Magnus says and it's more like a promise to himself than to Alec.

His husband smiles. "Yes, that's the plan. You can choose our destination."

"Tell me something about your week. Distract me."

"All right," Alec leans back in his chair and talks.

⁂

Magnus sits in their home alone. He's going crazy and he can't tell Alec.

Today, another thing has happened. He calls them "things" because he can't _name_ them what they really are. Freak incidents that he now knows to link to himself. Try as he might, he can't make sense of what's happening to him.

It was like this:

Magnus has been making good progress in his office that day and he's generally pleased, focusing on work and not letting other things cloud his mind. His whole office is peaceful, working, no drama, no Camille. Sun has even come out around noon to brighten the winter day.

After lunch, Magnus is sitting at his desk, stretching his legs out under it and thinking how much he doesn't want to get up to fetch two folders from the shelf. He's only just sat down and in a childish, petulant way, he refuses to stand up right away.

That doesn't change the fact that he needs to take a look in those folders to move forward with the rest of his work. He checks his mail instead and then looks at his phone to send a message to his husband. He knows not to expect a reply right away but later, once Alexander is free, he'll have something from Magnus.

Then, Magnus grumbles about the folders only to have them fly off the shelf, literally. The first one nearly smacks his mug off of the desk but he catches the second one. He doesn't think about it, it's just instinct to catch a moving thing.

Having reached its destination, the folder is now still in his hand.

Magnus wants to chuck it as far away from himself as possible but at the same time, he's completely frozen because what the hell?

Slowly, he sets the one he's holding down and moves the mug away from the edge of the desk where it was pushed. Slowly, he picks up the other folder and puts both down in front of himself to look at the labels. They're exactly the files he wanted.

There's no more flying. There are no threads or lines or magnets attached to them that he can see and which would explain a very elaborate practical joke. No one is even walking outside his door.

Then, Magnus remembers to take a breath.

His papers aren't moving, they aren't mocking him and when he opens the first one, there is nothing more than he expects to see: just a lot of text.

It isn't a dream, is it? You're not supposed to be able to read letters in dreams, right? You're not supposed to be able to run, read, see details in dreams so he surely wasn't dreaming this.

He should go home. Get up, get out of there.

But what would that accomplish? Alexander won't be there and Magnus doesn't want to be alone in the four walls right now. Because… because he can't _run_ from _this_.

He's hallucinating flying papers at work, broken mugs at home-

He must have been the reason why that tire had blown up. He must have, right? Luxury cars have luxury wheels and no matter that factory defects exist, that _shouldn't have happened_.

And if he did _that_ , what about Camille's phone? He knows her, he knows she always takes care to be prepared and surely her battery hadn't run out so suddenly.

What else has happened while around him?

He can't think of anything. There was the printer incident two weeks ago but that particular printer acts up for literally everyone in the office twice a month and they're going to replace it soon.

His head full to the bursting with thoughts and fear tightens his lungs. He's either going crazy, making up things in his head or- or he's _doing_ those things.

And that's impossible because people don't _do_ things like this.

After that, Magnus stays at work. He spends a long time at his desk with his phone silenced and his assistant instructed to keep everyone from disturbing him. She gives him a long look, then, and he knows he's probably pale. He feels pale.

He wants to go home, find his husband and have him hold him.

But he _can't_ because if he sees Alexander right now, he'll just blurt everything out to him and that… that would end badly for Magnus.

So he stays and after a while, he tries to work to let his brain rest from the circling thoughts. It doesn't work very well but at the very least he's not wasting half of his day.

By the time he's unlocking the door to their home, he's decided he can't tell Alec. How can he tell his husband of six months that he's lost his mind? He can put this on Alec now when they have so much going on in their lives.

Maybe it won't happen again. Maybe it _was_ hallucinating because their AC is contaminated, maybe he ate something weird, maybe he got hit by a car a month ago and is actually in a coma.

He doesn't tell Alec that night and he doesn't tell him the next morning.

⁂

Alec sometimes wishes his husband didn't have the job he has. It's draining him sometimes, mentally as well as emotionally. Alec knows it's impossible for Magnus to give it up because it's impossible for Magnus not to give his best for other people, whether he even knows them or not.

Alec enjoys seeing him after he wins his cases, all smiles and bright eyes, full of that smugness which makes Alec roll his eyes with fondness.

Sometimes he wishes he were a lawyer, too, so he could actually _help_ his husband, but he's an analyst, working for a tech consultancy firm with the side "job" of growing the Lightwood Foundation (plus the full-time job of being the older brother to three siblings).

He can only help Magnus by being there for him.

With lights dim in the living room, Alec sits in the armchair, scrolling down a file on his work tablet. It's not something he needs to memorize but he's never been the kind of man who'd bullshit his way through meetings and say he read something when he really hasn't. He used to be the one student who actually read all of the assigned books or if he didn't, he didn't lie that he did.

Reading the file is taking up his time before he has nothing else to do but go to bed. He knows that if he were in bed right now, instead of sleeping he'd be thinking about his husband.

Whatever is bothering Magnus, it's still a mystery to Alec. He's thought about it and he's willing to believe it's just something that Magnus is keeping to himself because it's someone else's problem. That is, maybe one of his friends is sick or has some home troubles. Maybe it's one of his employees.

Maybe he's overworking himself for the people he's helping.

Whatever it is, Alec has noticed a while ago, even with their limited time together.

Alec knows there's nothing wrong between them. Yes, they've been seeing each other less recently but they've acknowledged that and it wasn't anything out of the ordinary in their jobs. They already used to work a lot before their engagement.

Alec hates not knowing because overthinking this is bringing all sorts of scenarios to his head, more or less plausible but all of them unpleasant.

He puts the tablet away.

He can't do this anymore tonight. The best cure will be to just get up and go to bed where he can put his arms around his husband.

Magnus is taking up Alec's side of the bed, the pillows gathered around him and under his head, and clutched in his arms. He left none for Alec but he didn't take the blanket, as usual. Alec's the one who always wants to be warm at night.

He takes his blanket and lies behind Magnus, scooting close to be his big spoon. Somehow, he falls asleep soon enough. No overthinking.

⁂

It gets worse. Magnus is constantly tense and faraway with his thoughts, always giving Alec short, dismissive answers to anything that Alec says. He's not being dismissive of _Alec_ but he's pushing away his concern.

Alec can't let it continue. He doesn't want to let Magnus suffer and he doesn't want to worry anymore either.

During dinner, Alec reaches for his husband's hand over the table.

"Magnus," he starts, "You know I could never resent you for having your own secrets."

He feels at this point how Magnus tenses up but he continues.

"I just hate it because then I can't _help you_. Is it something about your friends?"

"Alexander…"

"If you need- want me to, I can take a day off, even two."

Magnus looks at their hands. He looks at the engagement ring Alexander had given him and the wedding bands Magnus had bought in turn. He thinks to how Alexander has been with him lately- touching him even more than usual, always snuggling in bed. Clearly, he knew something was wrong.

"You don't have to do that," a pause. "I didn't tell you anything because- because it's _weird_ and I don't know if I've gone mad or…"

It's almost choking Magnus to see that look in his husband eyes: unbearably soft. Warm hazel. Patient.

Magnus is reminded that it doesn't matter if he's lost his whole mind, Alexander won't let him be harmed. So he talks. He takes a breath, hesitates for another minute but Alec is waiting, not pushing, and Magnus tells him everything. As if some dam has broken, he tells Alec everything and the secret stops being a secret.

"You've developed… powers? Telekinesis? Mind waves?" Alec is asking him, his eyes intent on Magnus, and Magnus can't escape that gaze.

"I don't know!" Frustration fills him, but not at Alexander. At himself. "I don't _do_ this, it just happens. If you ask me right now to fix something or break something, nothing will happen."

"Okay, okay. All right, then we need to find a way to check this. Diagnose you to know if-" Alec makes an aborted gesture with his hand. "Check if you have powers."

"Great. And who exactly is going to do that? There's no doctor for this in our primary care."

"Well, we need a psychic. Obviously."

"Obviously."

"We'll find a psychic or an energy reader- healer, or whatever. It doesn't matter. Anything to make sure you're safe."

Magnus stares at his husband. He's not sure what he's supposed to be saying to this.

He's relieved, yes. He's feeling better with the shared burden of his incidents. But psychics? He doesn't believe they can simply go to one and have Magnus checked out. Scan him for powers?

"What if I'm possessed?"

Alec nearly rolls his eyes.

"You are _not_ possessed. You're _yourself_ ," he says with conviction that's so like him. "And we'll figure this out, okay?"

Magnus sighs. He looks down at the table.

"Okay?" Alec asks again, taking Magnus's hand into both of his.

"Yes, okay. Let's get me scanned for magic."

⁂

They go to a psychic. Or rather, Alec makes Magnus go with him.

Within ten minutes they both know it's pointless because the woman claims Magnus is possessed and needs an expensive ritual to get rid of it. Anyway, she looks like those mediums from late-night TV from years ago and neither Alec nor Magnus believe she can do anything for them even though she tries to convince them she even knows the name of the demon.

Even Magnus, desperate for answers, doesn't _actually_ believe he's possessed by anything.

So that's a waste of time.

Alec doesn't want them to give up just because the first place they went to was a plain scam. Magnus feels bad for wasting their time but he doesn't want to give up, either. He knows better than to give up after one try. When Alec pulls him close to hold him, Magnus decides to just let his husband take care of this for him.

Two days later, Alec comes to him with another place they can go to.

"It wasn't advertised, someone recommended it to me," he says.

Magnus agrees.

Madame Dorothea sounds somewhat better than Fortune-teller Esmeralda or Psychic Priscilla.

The building is a tenement house and no signs or ads are out there in front of it. Still, Alec's pretty sure this is the exact address he was given. And there it is, among the family names listed on the electronic bell is "Mme Dorothea". No family name.

Magnus waits while Alec pushes the button and then the door to the building unlocks for them. Their destination is the third floor, up a pretty dark staircase. It's not that the building looks suspect, it's just older and there is only one window on the staircase on the second floor.

Everything looks normal. They don't ring the bell because the door opens for them before Alec even raises his hand.

There's a woman behind the door, waiting for them. She's young. That is, she's younger than they expected her to be. She's probably Magnus's age.

"Madame Dorothea?" Alec asks, not a hundred percent sure.

"Miss, actually," she says, inviting them inside. They follow her to the first room off to the right, where a round table covered with a fancy doily takes up the center of the room.

"Did you come for a card reading?" She asks, taking a seat in the purple velvet-backed chair. Magnus and Alec take the chair on the opposite side of the table.

Alec imagines a crystal ball between them because it'd fit the table perfectly.

"No," he answers her question. "We don't want to know the future."

She smiles.

"Most people don't, they just _think_ they want it. Well then, what do you want to know if not the future?"

There comes the hesitation. Magnus and Alec exchange glances, their communication wordless.

"I," Magnus begins, "think there is something wrong with me-

"Is it something _wrong_?" she asks before he finds his words to explain. "Or is it something _strange_?"

When Magnus hesitates, she asks another question.

"Is it evil?"

"No," Alec answers that without thinking much about it. Turning to Magnus to take his hand, he says, "Just tell her everything from the start."

So Magnus takes a breath and does just that, as he'd told Alec.

"Well," she says afterwards, leaning back in her chair. She looks relaxed, in a way. She's quiet for a moment but it's clear she's thinking, so Magnus stops himself from rushing her.

"In a scenario where," she begins, "let's say a fire breaks out, you're trapped so you can't move. You can't move your limbs and there is probably someone else around the fire. Maybe it's your husband. Imagine the room. It doesn't have to be your home. Imagine there's an aquarium standing there. A large one. No fish because we don't want to hurt them. If you can't do _anything_ else, do you imagine you could make that aquarium break to let the water out of it?"

Magnus doesn't want to think about all that. Of course, he doesn't want to think about his husband in danger. But he does. He closes his eyes and imagines it, and he knows the answer in his heart. _Something_ inside him is telling him the answer.

"Yes. Yes, I could do it."

"You could break the glass?"

"Yes," he says and it sounds like a confession.

"So that would be a good thing, yes? You'd use your power for something good. What if I came up with another scenario and put someone in danger and asked you, would you tell me that you'd want to use that power to help?"

"Of course, if I could…"

She nods.

"You just haven't had the chance yet. You've been stressed, put into very tense situations with other people. You lashed out unknowingly."

"So what are you saying?" Alec asks.

"It appears your talent just woke up," she answers, looking at Magnus. "It's _yours_ , a part of you. Definitely not the demons," she smirks.

"Okay," Alec begins carefully, his hand not letting go of Magnus's. "So he _is_ magical?"

"Alexander, that's not-"

She interrupts him.

"Yes. In the simplest words."

"I don't have _magic_ ," Magnus begins to protest even though he really can't deny it anymore.

"What else is it, then?" Alec sighs. "Telekinesis? What's the difference if it's a _power_?"

The woman stands up to go to one of her bookshelves. She stands there, considering the books before pulling out one of them. She returns to the table while flipping through it, clearly searching for something.

"I'm not a Madame because my grandmother was. This home was hers and I don't really live here, I just work here. I've never met anyone like you but I do know about people _like_ you because Grandma taught me. She herself was small when her mother met a magic-user."

She returns to sit down with the book in her hands.

"This is very, very rare and probably will become rarer still. Not much use for magic anymore, is there?"

"But why now?" Magnus asks. "Why so _late_? That's not to say I feel old but I'm absolutely certain nothing like this has ever happened to me before."

"I bet it hasn't happened. This is _new_ and you can't control it yet."

She taps the open book.

"Magic-users are in danger for the obvious reasons. We don't burn people at stakes anymore but other bad things can happen. So there's a… what should we call it… a higher power for this, I suppose. No one shows the talent until they're safe. It's also one of the reasons why there's not many of them overall. So tell me, how long have you been married?"

"Less than a year…"

"Right. And anything else? Change of home, work?"

"Not in the last five years."

She looks at Alec. "Would you say your husband is a good person?"

"What kind of question is that? He's the best man I've ever met." Offended by the question, Alec goes on, bringing up Magnus's hard work even though Magnus is trying to stop him.

"That does sound quite nice," she says. "Selfless, generous. And what about _you_?"

Now, Magnus gets his moment. He returns the favor, listing Alec's family Foundation, how good he's with children, how protective he is of his family.

"He does make me feel safe," Magnus finishes.

"In that case, I have one obvious assumption. You're ready to wield your magic because you've got a protector."

"It's still ridiculous," Magnus says weakly, a last attempt to deny all of it even though there's no point to anymore.

Alec is clearly already convinced. He's leaning forward now, curious, willing to listen to anything she's able to share with them.

"Magnus has magic and I have to protect him?"

Magnus doesn't understand why he looks so excited about it when Magnus is absolutely terrified.

"In short, yes."

"What do I do, now? How can I learn to do something else than lash out and break things, even if I break them for good?"

"You've fixed the mug, haven't you? You really wanted it to be fixed and it happened. You have to practice. I think, the more you use it with intent, the less likely it will be that it'll find out uncontrolled outlets when someone angers you."

"You think?"

Her gaze softens. "Listen, I promise that tonight I'll look through the books for more information. This," she taps the book she still has in front of her, "Is just general stuff but if Grandma had more written, I'll find it."

Magnus breathes deeply.

"Thank you. You've already done so much for us. Even if there's nothing, what you told us already means everything."

"You are very welcome. I'm actually excited to have met you and I'll be more than happy to research this more. I will need your number to call. And if anything more happens, you know where to find me. I'll give you my phone, too."

"Thank you," Alec says.

He squeezes Magnus's hand and Magnus squeezes back.

They talk a little more and then they leave Dorothea's flat.

Alec is driving them home and for a while, they're both silent, both aware they have much to talk about but they also need a little time to think, first.

Eventually, Alec breaks the silence.

"So you're a superhero now? Will I see it? If I break something, will you fix it to impress me?"

" _No_. If you break something, I will be too annoyed with you to do anything for you."

Alec chuckles.

Then, "You know I believe all that, right? I haven't seen it but I believe it. You're magical, babe. I knew that from the day I met you."

Magnus can't fight the smile. He also can't fight the bubbly emotion in his chest that Alec was always able to wake in him.

"You're being terrible, Alexander."

"I know. But I love you."

"I love you too."

When they get home and Magnus is dropping his coat on the armchair, his gaze falls on a plant.

He's forgotten all about this.

_"Alec put a ring on it and you've been happy ever since,"_ Maia had said.

Brushing his fingertip on the plant's new pale flower, Magnus smiles. He'll remember to tell Dorothea.

Nearby, Alexander is getting out of his own coat and shoes. His cheeks are red from the cold when they were walking from the car to their apartment and there are snowflakes in his hair.

Magnus thinks back to what Dorothea said. The magic is supposed to be _his_ and it woke because it thought he was ready.

It sounds crazy. Magnus's logical brain is trying to keep pushing him back to denial but in his heart, he's accepting the truth. Inside him, a tingling sensation persists. Even though he's terrified of the future, maybe he'll wake up tomorrow not afraid of _himself_.

Yes, Magnus thinks, he might finally sleep well tonight even though a whole new world is about to open for him and he'll have no one but two people know about it.


End file.
